Lady Knights win two in home tourney

The CCRI Lady Knights’ volleyball team hosted the CCRI volleyball classic this past Saturday and Sunday. The tournament featured six teams – New Hampshire Technical Institute from Concord, NH, Fashion Institute of Technology from New York, NY, Holyoke CC from Holyoke, MA, Nassau CC from Garden City, NY, Genesee CC from Batavia NY and CCRI.

The Lady Knights went 2-3 in tournament play. Fashion Institute of Technology won the CCRI Classic Invitational defeating Genesee Community College 22-25, 25-21 and 15-13.

Match One: CCRI-2 NHTI-1

Set one started off slow, but the Lady Kngihts squeaked out a win 25-21. In set two there was a serious fight from NHTI. The Lynx had gone on a great serving run at the midway point and despite Janny Cabrera’s (Providence) six kills, Alyssa Salinas’ (Corpus Christi, Texas) three kills and Omayra Corchado’s (Isabela, Puerto Rico) four kills, the errors were too significant and the Lady Knights lost 23-25. Set three showed that CCRI was finally awake. Haley Greenwood (Goldsboro, N.C.), Salinas and Corchado all had an ace each and their serves constantly kept NHTI out of system so the Lady Knights could run their offense. Cabrera had four kills and Corchado had three kills, which led CCRI to a 15-8 win.

Match Two: FIT-2 CCRI-0

FIT had only one loss on the season coming in, but CCRI put up a fight. FIT won the first two sets 25-23 and 25-22. Cabrera and Chelsea O’Connor (Pawtucket) led the team with nearly perfect passes every time in serve receive. CCRI had 44 digs: 18 from Cabrera and six from Lindsey Proulx (Cranston) – to go along with three blocks – helped set up Salinas’ 10 kills, Cabrera’s nine kills and Corchado’s four kills. Unfortunately a few untimely errors were the difference in this match.

Match Three: CCRI-2 Holyoke-0

The girls were not defeated after the loss to FIT, but they were a little sluggish at the start of their last match of a long day. They let Holyoke hang around in the first set but after a stern time out by Coach Amaral, the Knights shut the door on Holyoke 25-13. In set two, the Lady Knights were 100-percent in control with Salinas serving 11 consecutive points. The Lady Knights cruised to a 25-3 victory.

Match Four: CCRI-1 Nassau-2

After a long day one of volleyball, the girls had a huge match against Nassau at 9 a.m. The win would have all but guaranteed a playoff spot for either team. Again, though a few untimely errors cost CCRI the match with scores of 25-17, 22-25, and 13-15.

Match 5: Genesee-2 CCRI-0

The match was a must-win for CCRI, but they were never really in control. CCRI fell to the eventual second-place team 17-25 and 17-25. The Lady Knights did put up a fight, even being down by 12 points in game one due to the clutch serving and very scrappy defense from Genesee, but it just wasn’t enough.

“Although we didn’t end up with the result we were looking for our players learned a lot about themselves and where we need to be,” CCRI head coach Samantha Amaral said. “The coaching staff is very proud of the Lady Knights for never giving up and always fighting to the bitter end. We no longer need to worry about heart and passion with this team. They continue to show us and everyone day-in and day-out at practices and games.”

The next match for the Lady Knights will be a tournament at NHIT in Concord, N.H. September 27-29.

Knights soccer knocks off Holyoke CC

The CCRI Knights men’s soccer team welcomed the Cougars of Holyoke Community College, from Holyoke, Mass. to the CCRI soccer complex on Tuesday. The Knights defeated the Cougars 5-0. With the victory, the Knights improved to 1-5 on the season and 1-2 in Region XXI play.

The Knights came out with their new formation to face Holyoke. Captain goalkeeper Rob Gallucci (Coventry) was back for this game after being injured in the game against Monroe over the weekend. In the first half, Adam Corey (North Kingstown) scored a goal assisted by Luis Duarte (Pawtucket), after Corey made a great run across the middle that broke him into the open field, giving the Knights a 1-0 lead. The Knights took that 1-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the players collected themselves and were able to be more clinical in their play. Junior Robert (Providence) was one of the versatile players that Toro was utilizing in the midfield this game, but at about the 20-minute mark in the second half Toro moved him up to the forward position for the Knights. From there, Robert went off, scoring four goals before the end of the game. The first goal came from an assist from Justin Kue (West Warwick). The next goal came from a through ball from captain Chris Fernandes (Cranston). On the third goal, Robert pulled a mini bicycle kick to put the ball in the back of the net after it bounced in the box. On his last goal, Robert worked hard to dribble and overpower the Holyoke defense.